


Silverflint Drabbles

by eosaurora13



Category: Black Sails
Genre: Character Death, Flint is amused, Hurt/Comfort, I don't want to tag major character death for the whole thing but... it's major, John loves Flint's freckles, John steals Max's dress, M/M, Missing Scene, Pacific Rim AU, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-02
Updated: 2016-12-27
Packaged: 2018-07-28 18:57:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 4,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7652962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eosaurora13/pseuds/eosaurora13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of drabbles I've written on Tumblr for prompts and for fun. Some of these I might come back to and flesh out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from wadedurnt on tumblr.

Flint traversed the deck late one night, the night’s watch rotating out to the bell in the rigging above. He watched the waves lap against the horizon in the moonlight, the quiet splash of water against the hull of the boat more relaxing than anything else he knew.

A glint of metal caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. He turned and saw Silver fiddling with a rifle. Where he had found such a weapon, Flint didn’t know but the thought of Silver mishandling it and wounding himself further nauseated him. He strode over. “Have you lost your mind?” he demanded.

Silver glanced up, his hands still over the barrel. “Beg pardon?” His voice held a note of annoyance but his brow furrowed in confusion.

Flint nodded at the rifle. “What possessed you to mess around with that?”

Silver smiled. “I know how to handle a rifle, Captain.” He picked up a cleaning cloth and wiped down the barrel. “However much that might surprise you.” He chuckled. “I still know exactly where my mind is.” His eyes narrowed on where Flint gripped the railing so tight his knuckles turned white. “Why do you ask?”

Suddenly feeling very foolish and thankful the dark hid the blush creeping up his cheeks, Flint muttered, “It’s nothing.” He made to walk back to his cabin.

Silver’s hand caught his, holding him in place, and he carefully laid the rifle aside. “This isn’t nothing.”

Flint closed his eyes and cursed how easily Silver read him. He pulled away, fleeing to his cabin, not looking back. 

Silver followed, the telltale thump of his bad leg echoing across the deck. He closed the door quietly and crossed the cabin to where Flint was standing. Whatever this was, they both understood it couldn’t be in front of the crew. As he reached up to trace down Flint’s jaw line and he kissed the shudder that shook Flint’s body, he wasn’t entirely sure he hadn’t lost his mind.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from triaux on tumblr.

Silver bolted up the stairs, taking them two at a time, all the more difficult given the disguise he’d been forced to don. He slipped through the only open door he could find and quietly latched it shut. His pursuers’ footsteps retreated down the hall and he let out a sigh of relief.

“Mr. Silver?”

He froze.

“What the hell are you wearing?”

Silver couldn’t help it. He burst out laughing, the stress from the chase finally getting to him. When he could breathe again, he tried to explain. “Well, obviously, it’s a dress, Captain.”

Flint’s eyes narrowed. “I can see that,” he retorted. “But why are you wearing it?”

“It’s quite a long story but –“ he glanced back at the door “ – it involved Max and a couple of thugs.” He caught the corners of Flint’s mouth curling up. “You’re laughing at me.”

“I’ve seen many things since my arrival at Nassau but this is the most memorable,” Flint admitted.

“Is that why you’re staring?” Silver asked. “Because eventually I do need to give this back to Max.”

Flint smirked. “You arrogant little shit.”

Silver returned the dress to Max the next morning, a limp in his step, and she flashed him a knowing smile.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from wadedurnt on tumblr.

Silver winced as Flint shoved him roughly down the winding path out of the Wrecks, the bruises where rocks had dug into his skin would be turning black and blue. Anger radiated off Flint in waves. 

No, anger wasn’t right.

Flint was furious.

The smart thing would have been to keep his mouth shut but Silver couldn’t be smart, not in the face of such a storm. “Where are you taking me?”

“Be quiet,” Flint growled.

“Are we going back to the Walrus? Back to the tavern?”

Flint grabbed him by the collar and slung him around. 

Silver held up his hands. “Before you murder me, let me explain…”

“Explain what?” Flint snapped. “Your greed almost cost me everything!”

“To be fair, I had no idea that page was so important when I first acquired it.”

Flint’s smile was predatory. “But you were on deck with Singleton, you knew how important it was when you destroyed it.”

Silver matched his smile. “But I didn’t destroy it, did I?”

Flint glared at him, daring him to say another word.

“Captain, this has the potential to be very lucrative for us both,” Silver tried.  
Flint nodded back at Billy and stormed off.

Maybe this would be more difficult than Silver first thought but he was determined to see this through and make it work. Not only would it be the biggest payday he could possibly imagine but damn if he didn’t find Flint the most intriguing puzzle he had ever encountered.

He eyed Flint’s rapidly shrinking form. Difficult, yes. But so very worth it.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from wadedurnt on tumblr.

Silver and Flint danced a strange dance considering that Silver lacked a leg to dance with. He stayed in Flint’s cabin, tucked up on the windowsill, as his wound healed. Or tried to. The pain kept him awake and even when he did sleep, he only saw that hatchet swing down again and again until his leg was nothing more than shattered bone and flayed skin.

But sometimes Flint almost forgot he was there and tonight was one of those nights. The captain stormed into the cabin, as he always did – if the man knew any other way to enter a room, Silver had yet to see it – and threw his jacket on the back of his chair. Perhaps he intended to relax, go through some of the papers they’d taken in from their last haul.

Except he didn’t stop with the jacket.

He pulled his shirt off over his head and John had to bite down on his head to not make a sound. He had seen most of the men on the crew shirtless – not Flint. Flint was something other, something set apart. 

Even in the low light, at this distance, Silver could make out the field of stars that speckled Flint’s shoulders and back. So caught up in making out those constellations, Silver missed the telltale noises of Flint undoing the laces and buckles on his pants, only realizing his terrible shortsightedness went confronted with it.

He closed his eyes, tried to breathe regularly, but the constellations mapped down Flint’s back, his legs, curling around his hips and kissing up his thighs – those Silver would see even in his dreams.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from wadedurnt on tumblr.

John could not bear to be cooped up in Flint’s cabin any longer. Since he had awoken after the events in Charleston, Dr. Howell and the captain had ensured he stayed put, off his leg until it could heal. By now, he had the designs in the wood around the windows memorized. He could tell the change of the watch, even who was on it, just by their footfalls alone. For a man who thrived on interacting with others, being trapped in a cage, however gilded, started to chafe.

Flint had taken to sleeping on deck when weather permitted. The first night John had been conscious Flint had had horrible nightmares. Flint had startled awake, seen John watching him, and left without a word. They hadn’t spoken since.

So as night fell, John took his opportunity. He hobbled to where Flint had stashed the prosthetic Howell had made for him. His injury still red and raw, it protested greatly the pressure of the leather and metal. He had to close his eyes and force his breathing to slow. But he managed to stand.

Of course, Flint chose that moment to storm into his cabin, the very air around him crackling with unspent energy. Flint’s eyes burned as they took in the scene before him, what John was trying to do. He was in John’s face before John could blink. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” he growled, low enough that no one outside the room could hear. 

John heard the pain in his voice, the same pain that he’d heard during the nightmare. He knew that pain came from what had happened to Miranda. To have it directed at him, for Flint to feel it because of him… he met Flint’s gaze, endured that fire. “I’m sorry, James.”  
The flames died down to embers. They weren’t finished with this conversation but neither had the energy to continue it at that moment. Flint merely nodded, some of the tension bleeding out of his shoulders.

He slept in the cabin that night.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from marsza on tumblr.

Silver glanced up as the Walrus loomed overhead. It had been far too long since he walked its decks, felt its sway beneath him. But there was something – someone – aboard her that he needed to see far more.

He approached Billy on the deck. “Is the captain in his cabin?”

Billy’s expression pinched. “Haven’t you heard?”

Silver’s stomach sank to his feet. Had something happened to Flint? If he had died…

Billy nodded at the cabin. “Dr. Howell’s with him.”

Silver pushed past him, barely noticing the pain in his leg as he worked it too much. This couldn’t be happening… He opened the door to Flint’s cabin and found him on his bed, pale and bleeding. 

Dr. Howell rose from Flint’s side, hastening to offer reassurances. “He’s suffered blood loss but I’ve managed to get it under control. Given time, he should make a full recovery.” 

Silver’s legs weakened as relief flooded his veins. “Thank you for that, doctor.” 

Dr. Howell glanced back at Flint’s prone form. “I wouldn’t expect too much from him. I gave him opium.”

Silver’s gaze followed. “Would you give us a moment?”

Some measure of understanding softened Dr. Howell’s expression and he nodded mutely, his voice echoing from outside after he closed the cabin door, telling whatever crew had gathered to stay out.

Still paranoid, Silver bolted the cabin door before limping over to Flint’s side. He sank onto the chair that Dr. Howell had vacated.

Flint’s chest rose and fell evenly but his face contorted in pain, even in sleep.

“Christ, Captain, you scared me,” Silver murmured, aware his voice could carry.

“I was unaware I still had that ability,” Flint managed to whisper. His eyes fluttered open and struggled to focus on Silver sitting beside him.

Silver resisted the urge to shake the man senseless. “What the hell were you thinking, going against Teach?”

Flint glared at him. “We needed Vane.” As if that explained everything.

Silver bit back a groan of frustration. “Is Vane worth your health?” he demanded. “Your life?” He rose from the chair, unable to hold Flint’s gaze, and searched the cabin for a basin of water and clean rags. “I didn’t think Mrs. Barlow’s death still affected you –“

“Stop.” Flint struggled to sit up. “I don’t recall having to answer to you.”

Silver sat on the edge of the bed and squeezed out a rag. He gently wiped away the drying blood around the gash running across Flint’s chest. “No? I thought we were partners.”

Flint winced as he shifted again.

“You need to stop moving,” Silver admonished. “If you pull your stitches, I will not be responsible for what Dr. Howell does to you.”

For once, Flint obeyed. 

As Silver worked, he told Flint of the happenings in the Maroon Camp, his voice weaving a hypnotic story in that quiet space. He glanced up to find Flint watching him with an indecipherable expression. “What?”

“What is this, Mr. Silver?”

Silver blinked. “Beg pardon?”

Flint arched an eyebrow. “You’ve never struck me as a man who would normally stoop to this.”

“I wasn’t aware I was ‘stooping’ to anything.” He threw the bloodied rag into the basin and grabbed Flint’s hand. “When Billy said…” he swallowed the lump in his throat, “I thought I’d lost you.”

Flint’s eyes widened as Silver’s words shocked him into silence.

Silver leaned over the bed and pressed a gentle kiss to Flint’s lips. “I’ll send Howell back in.”

As he opened the door, he caught Flint whisper, “Thank you.” He paused, his hand hovering over the doorknob, and smiled.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from marsza on tumblr.

The fire had long since died down to embers but neither Silver nor Flint moved from their seats. They had passed the bottle of rum between them until they were draining the last dregs of alcohol. After their conversation, they could have spoken words into the silence that followed, could have shattered the fragile thing that existed between, growing, forming. Being. But they said not a word, instead enjoying each other’s company for what might be the last time.

The knowledge that Flint could die in the upcoming battle weighed heavily on Silver’s mind. He stared at the embers crackle and spit as they clung so desperately to life. Maybe that’s all he and Flint were. Maybe they too were clinging to life despite that inexorable slide toward death.

“You’ll survive tomorrow,” he whispered and his voice echoed so loudly. Or, perhaps, it was his own heartbeat pounding in his ears. He looked up to find Flint watching him intently. His voice thick, he repeated, “You have to survive tomorrow.” 

“There’s no guarantee, even if your plan works,” Flint reminded him, his voice gentle. “Battles don’t conform to order or to the wishes of any man.” He rose from his seat and knelt in front of Silver, the fading light from the fire illuminating him. 

Silver sat frozen as Flint brought his hand up, pressed it against his cheek. The warmth from his palm seeped through his skin and Silver relaxed into it, his eyes not leaving Flint’s for an instant. “Come back, Captain.”

Flint traced over Silver’s face, with his fingers, with his eyes, drinking in every sight and touch he could take. As if he already knew he wouldn’t.

As if he had already resigned himself to that fate.

Silver leaned forward, grabbing Flint’s shirt. “Don’t you dare,” he growled, their faces inches apart. “You will come back to me.” When Flint said nothing, only held his gaze, Silver shook him. “Say it.”

“I’m coming back.”

And as Flint wrapped him in his arms and kissed him, Silver almost believed it.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Inspiration from the lyrics:   
> "He's stronger than the walls  
>  You tried to build around him  
>  To dumb and dumbfound him  
>  Two thousand years I waited for your call   
> Screaming from the windows   
> Screaming bloody murder"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from howthesummerends on tumblr.

Flint couldn’t tell what was real anymore. His stomach had long since ceased to growl pitifully; his mouth had forgotten the taste of clean water. The unrelenting sun beat down on him, burning into his skin – but he felt no pain. All he had left were his thoughts – his ghosts, his demons – and they tormented him.

Miranda screamed at him, the muscles in her neck straining, but she made no sound. The bullet hole still oozed blood but she was unbothered by it. Flint had to resist reaching out to wipe it away – some part of his mind understood she wasn’t there. It wouldn’t do for the captain to give into the darkest corners of his mind in front of his men.

The only other figure that Flint still devoted any attention to was Silver. How the little weasel had ingratiated himself in with the crew, with him, Flint had witnessed with his own eyes but still could not comprehend it. Aside from his almost supernatural power to weave a story, Silver had no redeemable qualities. His greed and selfishness had caused far more problems than they had solved.   
And he was the one person left on the crew who was stupid enough to fight him, to stand up to him. He thought, with his newfound power and his debt to the crew, that he could. 

Flint put him in his place. He undermined Silver by killing the two pitiful creatures accuses of stealing food. He undermined Silver by keeping him on full rations. One person held total power on this ship and it was not John Silver.

“That’s not why you’re doing this, James,” Miranda berated. “And you know it.”

_You don’t know what you’re talking about._

Her image smiled coldly. The wound still bled, dripping blood onto the deck. “You think I don’t know you?” She walked into the sun, shimmering like a mirage. “You, who I created?” She caressed Silver’s face, too thin and flushed with heat exhaustion and infection. “How strong are those walls you built? The ones you think will keep him from you?”

Flint closed his eyes, begged her to leave him alone.

“What lies you have told yourself. Told him.” She knelt beside him, gripping his hand with her cold ones. “He cannot be your equal because no one can be. He is not welcome in your head because that is sacred ground.”

She vanished, leaving a figure of death in her wake.

_He will be your equal and more._

Some of the crew stirred feebly.

_And he will occupy far more space in your head than Thomas ever did._

Something was happening off the starboard bow that demanded Flint’s attention.

_Do not underestimate him, James._

Those words echoed in his head as Silver spilled the truth about the Urca gold, their voices rough from disuse, as they fought the shark, as he looked over the carcass with a feral smile on his face.

Only when they stood on opposite shores of the lake after the battle did Flint finally tear down the last remnants of what he had erected to protect himself from Silver. 

Miranda had known Silver was too strong to hold back with mere walls.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one isn't a prompt but it is based on the Pacific Rim AU posts I've seen floating around that are beyond incredible.

James, listen to me! Listen to me!

James recoiled from the physical power of the drift as his mind sought to connect with Silver’s, their thoughts and experiences not so much merging as crashing together – two giant waves against an unsuspecting beach. 

He turned and, where Silver should have been, he saw Thomas. Always Thomas.

Only Thomas.

He watched as the kaiju ripped open the cockpit and dragged the only man he ever loved into the void – felt as his heart stopped and his thoughts stilled. He couldn’t live through this, not again.

A distant beeping broke through the memory. “Pilot out of alignment,” the computerized voice warned.

James dragged himself, inch by inch, back to reality. Still in his jaeger’s cockpit, he reoriented himself with the controls, the feel of the motion sensors in his hands and attached to his feet, the connection of his mind to another’s.

“Walrus! Walrus! You are out of alignment!” Jack shouted through the comms.

James waved him off, shaking his head to clear the memory and refocus on the drift. “I’m all right. Let me control it.”

“You’re stabilizing but Silver is way out.”

He glanced over, half expecting to see Thomas again, only to stare at Silver’s unseeing eyes. Though Jack said “He’s starting to chase the rabbit,” James didn’t need to hear the obvious. And he knew only too well the dangers of losing yourself to the memories.

He reached out futilely. “John, don’t follow it. Stay with me.” He came as close to begging as he would allow himself. As much as he could not stand Silver – could not stand his cockiness, his abrasive attitude, the way he had already dug under James’ skin – he couldn’t wish this on anyone.

He wouldn’t leave Silver alone.

Following Silver into the memory was as easy as breathing. 

James had seen flashes of it during the initial connection – Silver, barely six or seven, limping through a half destroyed street, crying out for his parents – but to feel it in its entirety, to experience every raw emotion as Silver did…

The kaiju appeared out of nowhere, amid of plume of smoke and machinegun fire as airplanes streaked past, its beady blue eyes scanning the ground for any form of life. Its gaze landed on Silver – John, this wasn’t Silver yet – and it roared, sending shivers up James’ spine.

John fled as fast as he could, as fast as his mangled leg would carry him. James only noticed how badly injured John was after he had ducked behind a dumpster. Too many pieces of the puzzle that was John Silver clicked into place.

They couldn’t stay here though. James knelt in front of him but he couldn’t find the words to bring John back. How could he say this wasn’t real when even he startled as the kaiju rammed into the building above them?

John held his hands up, a child’s desperate attempt to protect itself from what it couldn’t understand.

James’ brain registered the frantic shouts coming from the command center as they tried, and failed, to activate the fail-safes on the Walrus. Turn off the main power, he thought fuzzily. It’s the only way to break the connection.

He faded out of the drift as power drained out of the jaeger, yanking off his helmet, half falling off the platform. He was barely aware of what he murmured to Silver as he disconnected him from the controls.

Silver sank to the floor, his breathing shallow. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, over and over again.

James sank down behind him, pulled him back until they were flush against each other, and held him. As he whispered back, “It’s okay. You’re okay,” he wished instead to see that brazen cockiness and that careless grin.

When the medics arrived moments later – or perhaps an eternity later – they had to pry Silver from James’ arms.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from nonnie on Tumblr.

“You know what has to happen, don’t you?” John asked, keeping his voice low so it wouldn’t carry. Though he had led Flint a distance from camp, there was always a risk someone might overhear. The mere thought of the act he was about to commit set his nerves on fire, churned his stomach. They had a right to a few moments of privacy before that.

Flint squared his shoulders. If ever a man could face death with such a level of courage, it would be him.

But John expected some manner of fight from the man who had freed Nassau from the tyranny of the British, some notion that he intended to survive this just as he had everything else God and the universe had thrown his way. Some sign that this wasn’t meant to be.

Max was waiting in town for news of Flint’s death, would send men out to ensure John had carried it out. With Billy gone, Jack and Anne with him, and Teach dead, the last threat to a peaceful Nassau was Flint himself.

John couldn’t bring himself to pull the trigger.

“It’s not exactly polite to make a man wait for his execution.”

Flint’s voice dragged him from his thoughts. He stared at the pistol in his trembling hands.

Flint turned, saw John standing there, and closed the distance between them, grasping John’s hands in his. “John.”

That one word shattered what little control John still had. He dropped the pistol as if it were some noxious thing and surged forward, pulling Flint into a bruising kiss. 

In all the time he had served on the Walrus, he had watched Flint, observed him, studied him – little by little fell in love with him – but he had never once acted on it. To try to squeeze all those weeks and months they might have had into one kiss was the very definition of futility but John was determined to try. “I can’t do this,” he whispered brokenly as he pulled away to breathe.

“You have to,” Flint reminded him. “Nassau depends on you.”

“That was your dream,” John countered angrily. “What about mine?”

Flint pressed their foreheads together, their breaths intermingling in the space their shared.

“Mr. Silver! Are you out here?” A voice called out, still some distance away.

John’s eyes flew open, panicked. This couldn’t be it. Surely they had more time.

Flint knelt and retrieved the pistol. He placed it in John’s hands. The trust and relief and peace in his eyes tore through John far worse than a bullet.

John kissed him again, determined to remember every aspect of it but knowing he couldn’t – knowing the way Flint sighed into his mouth, the way Flint’s fingers dug into his curls, the way he truly felt alive for what he was acutely aware would be the last time would all fade from his memory with time.

“I love you, John Silver.”

A shot rang out.

A body crumpled to the ground.

The man that met the sentry and gave him the news was no longer John Silver but a corpse as dead as the one he had just created.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from johnsilverflint on tumblr.

“You used me as bait?” Flint growled, incredulous.

Silver did not look away from his vantage point at the keyhole but he rolled his eyes. The motion only cost him a couple of seconds of watching for their pursuers. “In my defense, I could think of no other way to get you to agree to this plan.”

Flint opened his mouth to respond but they both froze at the sound of footsteps in the corridor. 

A quick glance and Silver relaxed ever so slightly. It was nothing more than the barmaid from downstairs. He waved Flint off.

“Did you even consider asking me?” Flint demanded, clearly intent on reaching some manner of resolution that Silver wouldn’t be able to give him.

Silver pushed away from the door, looking at Flint over his shoulder. “Though it may come as a complete shock,” he replied, “I did. But it seemed to be far more believable for you to draw them where I wanted them if you didn’t know the plan.” He shrugged. “You can’t tell me I was wrong.”

Flint exhaled and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “And what is your plan when they follow me here? I wasn’t fast enough to lose them.”

A commotion rattled the old building. Silver grinned. “I assume that was Billy and Joji holding up _their_ end of the plan.”

Something akin to admiration lit Flint’s eyes underneath the annoyance – Flint shook his head. “Times like these, I don’t know if I should kiss you or slap you,” he muttered.

Silver tried to say something witty – he couldn’t stand Flint getting the last word – but found his brain had disconnected from his mouth. He unsteadily rose to his feet, grimacing as he settled all his weight on his good leg, only to find Flint had intruded into his personal space, as silent and dangerous as the ocean he called home. His gaze snapped to Flint’s and the rest of the world – whatever the fuck they had just been doing – faded away.

All of a sudden, he struggled to breathe.

“I never thought I’d see the day,” Flint teased. “John Silver at a loss for words.”

“I would enjoy it,” Silver said. “There’s no guarantee –“

Flint kissed him, trailing his hands down Silver’s ribcage and sending shivers down Silver’s spine.

“Careful, Captain,” Silver warned. “You’re not exactly dissuading me from using you as bait in the future.”

Flint only chuckled and kissed him again.


End file.
